Russia Ripe For Crypto Tourism Says Politician

There will be an increase in the cryptocurrency driven tourism prospects in Russia. This is according to a senior Russian politician who says that this possibility is very promising.

Call For Finalization Of The Crypto Related Legislation

According to reports by the news outlet Innov.ru, MP Igor Fomin foresees a booming crypto-tourism industry whose development he says will be underway once the Russian parliament, known as the State Duma, passes a set of crypto-related legislated which have long been waited for. Fomin is the head of tourism for the parliamentary Council Committee on Social Policy.

Fomin termed the crypto tourism related schemes in the country as being promising and said that having a good legislative foundation would be of help to the currently declining crypto related tourism and would also help it to thrive. He also went on to claim that tourists to the country as well as its own citizens may soon begin paying the tour agencies fees and accommodation in cryptocurrency. He also added that Bitcoin and altcoin may even start to be used for transportation too.

Second Readings Of Crypto-Related Legislation Moved To Autumn

He also alluded to the fact that many people within the country were looking forward to Russia developing its own national digital fiat even though the president, Vladimir Putin, had spoken against this prospect in his announcements last month, stating that it was not possible for any state to have its own national cryptocurrency.

A limited but nonetheless significant number of tourism-related industries, including but not limited to bars, hotels, airlines and travel agencies were accepting payments in cryptocurrencies during the 2018 World Cup that just concluded in Russia. Many of these tourist-related industries have registered their interest in carrying on from these beginnings.

The three crypto related bills which were due to be officially rubber-stamped by the Duma this summer were not finalized on. The Duma has postponed the second readings of these legislations till autumn.

In Other Related News

The chairman of the Committee on Financial Markets for the State Duma, Anatoly Aksakov, has said that there will not be a separate taxation framework for cryptocurrency but instead, taxation will be in accordance to the currently existing income tax regulations. This comes after there were rumors that plans were underway to introduce a special cryptocurrency mining tax.

In addition, Aksakov said that any companies or individuals who earn from crypto trading will also be required to pay an income tax on those earnings from crypto trading. This means that all Russian miners and traders would be paying taxes to the tune of 13 percent on their total earnings from these activities. The chairman said that even though the introduction of new and separate tax regulations for the crypto industry would not be drawn at this time, it is not a certainty that such (separate crypto specific tax regulations) would not be implemented at a later date in the event that the government deemed this step necessary.

The responsibility of calculating the tax due to the government was previously placed on those in the crypto industry. They were to calculate their own tax obligations.